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Apocapelogos
The Apocapelogos is a singular name for a small collection of islands visited by Harrican Syldanade early on in his explorations. The four main islands that comprise the Apocapelogos are Biały, Blême, Kuroi, and Rød. Biały The northernmost large island of the Apocapelogos, Biały is a largely untamed location, still being mostly unspoiled wilds and mountains. Despite the location of the other nearby islands and their civilizations, Biały has remained unspoiled or exploited by the inhabitants of the other islands. There are few inhabitants of Biały, and those who do live on it do so in a fashion designed to live in harmony with the island. Many of the natives of Biały did not take kindly to Harrican at first due to his use of technology, but shortly thereafter diplomacy reigned and the locals realized Syldanade had not arrived to attempt to pillage the island for its large supply of resources. In his time on the island, Syldanade learned that the residents of Biały were considered shepherds and mystics by the other islands. Small temples dot portions of the island, and travellers from the other islands often travel to Biały to leave offerings for their ancestors, and gifts for the shepherds themselves. The island's central portion is dominated by a large dormant volcano, and occasional pilgrimages to its caldera have been known to occur. There is one exception to Biały's stance on exportation of resources: water. The water of Biały is used by the other islands of the Apocapelogos for their ceremonial rituals, and is regarded as the most pure water in the region, given to the ill and young in order to aid both body and soul in times of need. Syldanade's opinions of the religious associations with water were less well-received by the natives than by his fellow scholars and explorers, so his time on Biały was understandably the shortest of his travels in the Apocapelogos. Blême Blême is the collective name for the western islands of the Apocapelogos, due to the fact that the majority of the islands were connected by large bridges. The natives of Blême were also quick to develop water-based travel, and were indeed the first of the four major Apocapelogos civilizations to make contact with the other islands. The resources of Blême have been largely harvested by the locals in the course of their history, although a movement has begun among the lower classes to attempt to set aside the portions of Blême left untouched as reserved land for the sake of preservation. As with all other civilizations, the development of diplomacy inevitably led to the early development of politics in the Blême region, and in the time of Syldanade's visit to the Blême capital an assassination almost completely overturned the government of the islands. The natives reacted much less drastically to this than Syldanade expected - he was later informed that the "Blême Game," as it was known by locals, was simply the history of political rivalries and assassinations that had defined Blême's history for hundreds of years. However, Blême's role as political center of the Apocapelogos has also been instrumental to the overall development of the collective civilizations. Without the intervention of Blême diplomats for example, the Inter-Island War could have ravaged both Kuroi and Rød for decades or possibly centuries. Since that incident, Blême has continued to offer its services to the other islands in matters of negotiation, both for trading purposes and to direct and determine the overall development of the coalition of islands. Kuroi Kuroi is the single largest island in the Apocapelogos, and maintained the longest period of isolation from the other islands, only being contacted by Blême within the last two hundred years, and only then after contact with Rød that almost ended in bloodshed. Kuroi's history was thus one of internal development and growth, leading to a much faster rate of technological advancement than that of the other islands. Oddly enough however, because of their lack of interest in exploration this development took the form of infrastructure and purely scientific pursuits rather than travel as the residents of Blême had chosen. For example, Kuroi was the only place in Syldanade's travels in which the explorer saw the field of Visioaudial Fractalization, and indeed the uses of it were in common practice all around the island of Kuroi. In the course of the birth and growth of the island coalition, Kuroi has become a sort of hub for scientific learning in the Apocapelogos. After extended talks with the people of Blême and Rød, Kuroi opened its doors to those from any of the civilizations who wished to study and perform research with Kuroian scholars. In keeping with this, the people of Kuroi were appreciably interested in discussion with Syldanade about his travels and discoveries. Both parties learned a great deal from this, and although Syldanade has never confirmed nor denied it, rumors persist that the Kuroians gave him a parting gift from one of their laboratories that is unique to that portion of the universe and cannot be found or replicated elsewhere. In various interviews, Syldanade has only confirmed that the scientific achievements he saw within the Kuroi capital were "marvelous, and something I will never forget." Rød Rød is the southern island of the main group of four that compromise the Apocapelogos. Unlike Blême however, the natives of Rød have not expanded to the other unclaimed islands in the region. The reason for this became obvious to Syldanade quickly after his arrival: the terrain of Rød and its surrounding islands can only be described as hostile. Indeed, Rød was the last nation to be contacted by Blême explorers, because the explorers simply didn't believe anything would survive or develop on the harsh terrain of Rød. Volcanos scatter the landscape, and unlike Biały's single dormant volcano, most of Rød's are still active. The capital of Rød was thus established based more on necessity than intent - it is located on a portion of the island untouched and unreachable by lavaflow. Reacting to the dangerous environment around them, the natives of Rød focused the majority of their development on military defenses and technology. For in addition to the landscape itself, as Syldanade learned the vast majority of the native wildlife to the island was just as dangerous as the terrain. Rød's inhabitants found themselves beset on all sides by danger, and adapted by becoming a primarily military people. This also hindered their attempts at expansion and exploration: Rød's first contact with Kuroi nearly ended in a war, and would have had it not been for the intervention of Blême diplomats. Since then the two nations have exited in a somewhat tense but stable peace, helped along by Blême diplomacy and commonalities between language. While most of Rød's historical records have been lost or destroyed, the language of the island is remarkably similar to that or Kuroi, and several Kuroi scholars have hypothesized that Rød's people are descended from a group of Kuroi expeditioners who disappeared after reaching the bottom of the Kuroi island. The two nations have been working together in recent years to attempt to discover the true origins of Rød and any relations to the other islands. Syldanade's time on Rød was spent being shown the military achievements of its people. At the suggestion of Blême diplomats acting as tour guides, the Rød leadership even granted him a small enhancement to his ship to allow it to defend itself from any unforseen peril in the future. While he did not have much in common with the people of Rød, Syldanade continued to refer to them positively in his later years.